Ron Klein attempts to fend off challenge from tea party favorite Allen West

September 19, 2010|By Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel

He's called on supporters to "grab their muskets" and "fix your bayonets," railed against "coexist" bumper stickers, and called his opponent a "pathetic liberal" – and it's working.

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Allen West, a fire-breathing conservative beloved by the tea party movement, is gaining political momentum and may become South Florida's newest member of Congress.

West is challenging U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D- Boca Raton – and waging a war on liberalism.

A West victory would help Republicans win the 39 seats they need to take control of Congress and tip the balance of power in Washington.

A passion-filled West speech has been seen more than 2.2 million times on YouTube. He has the endorsement of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. And he's raised more money than Klein in each of the last four fundraising periods.

Democrats are worried.

They've assigned a staffer with a video camera to shadow West and record each of his public appearances – hoping to capture an outlandish comment to post on YouTube or pillory him in TV advertising.

And just hours after the polls closed and primary candidates' ads went off the air on Aug. 24, Klein began airing an attack ad going after West's character. It highlighted tax liens and unpaid bills. West acknowledges the debts and says they're all paid.

Klein and the Democratic Party are hoping to convince voters in the Broward- Palm Beach County 22nd District – largely a coastal district with many affluent residents and more independent voters than just about any other congressional district — that West is so conservative that he's dangerously extreme.

Klein calls West a "right-wing nut."

"We've been listening to him and collecting his YouTube videos and his statements and rallies and stuff like that, and they're very clearly extreme in many cases," Klein said. "We want the public to understand what he's all about. It's time for people to understand what the choices are."

Crowds at tea party events and Republican Party clubs react enthusiastically to West. But Democrats think they can hurt West with his own words, and some of his positions on issues.

He denounced the Democratic Party's use of the videographer, which is often done in high-stakes contests, as "Gestapo-type intimidation tactics." The Klein campaign used that to denounce West as insensitive to Holocaust survivors.

He has railed against the "coexist" bumper stickers with letters formed from symbols representing many different religions. West, who is concerned about radical Islam, said the stickers bother him because it's impossible to "coexist with a theocratic political ideology that really does not want to coexist with us."

He's called Klein a "cretin," a "pathetic liberal" and said he wants to make the incumbent congressman "scared to come out of his house."

West said his rhetoric, which is much more intense that the kinds of words that come from most candidates — Democratic or Republican — is simply part of his personality.

"I grew up in the inner city of Atlanta, Georgia. Every once in a while you get to do some trash-talking the way we do in college football games," he said. "That is what we do in America. I don't take it that serious."

And he said some of his words are being used out of context. When he urged supporters to "get your musket" and "fix your bayonet," a fife and drum corps had preceded him on stage and right before he went on there was a man dressed in a colonial outfit with a musket and bayonet. "It was all in the spirit of what was going on."

"Trying to portray me as an extremist, a radical, and a dangerous person is just plain wrong," West said. "I have a passion for my country."

In his advertising and on the campaign trail, West portrays Klein as a slave to the demands of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi while he arrogantly ignores the wishes of his district. Klein is so devoted to Pelosi, West said, that he's a "mama's boy."

His proof: A Washington Post analysis that shows Klein voted with Democrats 97.8 percent of the time – higher than the average of 92.2 percent.

Klein portrays himself as a fiscally conservative and socially liberal exactly in sync with the moderate views of his district.

His proof: A National Journal analysis of House votes on economic, social and foreign policy issues that concluded he was a moderate centrist. And he's worked with Republicans on a national catastrophe fund, to help lower windstorm insurance premiums, and with U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, on Medicare fraud.

"It's not just a style difference, it's a substantive difference," Klein said. "I haven't heard one issue that he talks about that doesn't' come from an extreme right point of view."